My Life as a Pokemon Trainer
by perfect oblivion
Summary: Response fic to my own challenge, seeing as nobody else has made one. Basically what the title says, follows the story of me and my friend as we go about taking on the Unova region. Rated T for my mouth at times. Picnicblanketshipping in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Wake up you moron!" The shout wakes me up, but doesn't get me up. I'm about to drift off again when something tackles me out of my bed and onto the floor, tangling me up in the bedsheets. I manage to get myself out of the tangle of sheets, just in time to see my younger sister Arianne standing over me, hands on her hips and a smug grin on her face, mirrored by the snivy perched on her shoulder.

"Alright sis, I'm up. Now leave me alone." I say as I get to my feet. I glance at the clock by my bedside, and to my exasperation it reads 6:30 am, what am I possibly needed for this early in the morning?

"Just to let you know, Dad wants you outside right now with the rest of the boys." says my sister as she leaves my room, and I close the door behind her. I look out the window at the large garden we have out back, and I see Dad and my three younger brothers outside, all working on that patch of land.

"Oh joy, manual labor." I say to myself. Sighing loudly, I get dressed and get ready for the day.

…...

I just realized something, I haven't introduced myself yet. Sorry about that, I'm not one for manners in the early morning. The name's Tyler, I won't give out my last name due to privacy reasons. I stand at about 6'3". I have dark brown hair, and honey brown eyes, with a ring of grey surrounding the outer edge of the iris. Me and my family live on a large homestead in Woodridge Village in the Unova region, where we work a hobby farm. Woodridge is located thirty minutes straight west of Nuvema Town in the middle of a massive regional forest. It's your average little village; a bunch of houses, a general store, a church, and a diner. Everybody knows everybody here, so well in fact that practically everyone's on a first name basis with everybody else to the point where they've forgotten each others last names. All in all, it's a nice place. But back to the task at hand.

…...

I walk downstairs and am met with the smell of frying bacon, eggs, and pancakes. I look into the kitchen wondering if Mom's up already, and I'm shocked to see the kitchen unmanned. I check the living room, but I only see Arianne and her Snivy reading a book with a mug of hot cocoa resting on the coffee table beside her chair. Shrugging to myself, I go to swipe a rasher of bacon, and my hand is intercepted by a spatula that came out of nowhere.

"Ouch!" I yell out of reflex, and yank my hand back, and my sister laughs from inside the living room, the brat. I then cast a menacing glare at the now floating spatula, and my Mom's Froslass phases into view with a grin on her face. Waving a finger in a chiding manner, she starts scolding me for trying to sneak food. Then she points the spatula to the door that leads outside, pretty much telling me to get out and help Dad in the garden.

"Yes Mother." I say as I head out. I step out the door and into the boot room, which is a room seperate from the house we use to keep all our boots, shoes, and coats in. After getting my shoes and hoodie on, I head outside and around back to the garden. It's a little chilly out, though it's way better then the usual March weather we get here. A light fog hung in the air, wisps coiling and curling around me as I move through it to the garden.

"Hey Tyler." My Dad greets me as I step into the garden.

"Hey Dad. So what do you need me for?" I reply, and he points to the barn.

"Go help Hyrum please." he tells me, and I go off to the barn. At least it's the barn and not working the garden. I open the barn doors, and ignore the smell as I walk into the ramshackle building. The barn is where we keep our poultry when they're mature, and we have to prep it every spring. As soon as I enter the barn I see Hyrum raking up the old straw that was used as bedding for the cluckers last year, and I go and help him out. He would rake the straw into a pile, and I would take a pitchfork and get the pile into a wagon hooked up to Hyrum's Tepig. Once the wagon was full, Tepig would take it out to the compost pile and offload it, then come back, and the cycle would repeat. It took about fifteen minutes for the three of us to finish off the straw. I then help Hyrum stack The chicken feed dad got the day before onto a large shelf, to keep the mice and rats from getting into it. After that's done, Hyrum and I clean out the entire coop area of the barn, so that it's ready for this year's batch of chickens, though hopefully Dad will finish that chicken coop before then. The entire thing takes takes half an hour. Just as we finish up, a ringing bell is heard coming from the house, signaling all those outside that breakfast is ready. Hyrum picks up his tepig and heads to the house, and I put away the tools and follow him.

…...

Breakfast at my family's house can be described in two words. Big, and noisy. The portions are massive, four pankakes for everybody with a large side of scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, and hashbrowns. The best part is, nearly everything on the table is the product of my family's labor. We grow our own vegetables in the garden, and we raise our own animals. The only things that are not from our efforts are the eggs, because we need the chicken coop to be finished before we can start raising laying hens, and the berry juice, because Unova's soil can't sustain berries for some reason. All six of my siblings were clamoring to each other, creating a constant din of noise that grated on my nerves. I looked around the table while my Mom and Froslass were serving everybody. The first person to catch my gaze is Hyrum, my youngest brother. Hyrum's a fairly energetic boy that loves to help out Dad in whatever he can do. He's also the one who raises the chickens in the family. I watched as his tepig started eating his hashbrowns, and I chuckled to myself as I watched Hyrum try to save his breakfast from his pokemon. I still remember the day Hyrum brought Tepig home. He came home from a day of exploring, and was holding the fire pig pokemon in his arms, constantly asking mom if he could keep him until she finally caved. Ever since, Tepig has never been more than three feet away from Hyrum at any time. The next two siblings that caught my eye were Sophia and Annastasia. Sophia had a plusle, while Anna had a minun. Anna was a dynamo of energy, while Sophia was almost always seen reading. Next was my brat of a sister Arianne. The girl was a constant hassle, bossing everyone around, especially when my parents weren't home, and always throwing a fit when things never went her way. Her snivy was the exact same, constantly bossing around the other pokemon to do her bidding. Of course, if the grass snake did that around Froslass, she would get a fierce Ice beam to the backside for her trouble. Arianne was also a major tomboy. Her idea of a good time was hiking, snowshoeing, and other outdoor activities. My eyes then meet John's. John is the rebel of the family, always bending or breaking the rules to suit his needs. When John got his first pokemon, he didn't stick around to help the family like he was supposed to, he up and ran off to go adventuring. I still think that was a smart move on his part, seeing as I'm twenty years old, and only now am I free to go adventuring. John's first pokemon was surprisingly a bagon, though it was a salamence now. John was not only a trainer, but a very good pokeathlete as well, and had a bunch of trophies and medals on display in the living room. Right beside John was my other brother Reuben. Reuben was a quiet boy, but extremely smart. He always did well in school and made sure to get top marks in everything he did. Floating beside him was his beldum. Soon, I was served, and after prayers were said, I dug in.

…...

Now, you're probably wondering by now what kind of pokemon I have, seeing as everyone else in my family has one. The answer to that is a bit embarrassing to admit. You see, I don't have a pokemon of my own, not because of a lack of trying mind you, I've met plenty of wild pokemon. You're probably asking me why I haven't caught one then, or why I haven't swung by professor Juniper's lab and got myself a starter. The reason is because my family and I do things a little differently. We only capture pokemon that we have 'connected' with. It's practically impossible to describe, the best I can do is that when you have found a pokemon you 'connect' with, it's as if something in you clicks into place, and you feel like with that pokemon, you can take on the world and come out on top. It also works both ways, the pokemon will willingly join you, almost demanding it or so I'm told. So far, not a single pokemon I have ever come across has connected with me, leaving me as the only member of the family without a pokemon. Little did I know that today, that was going to change.

…...

After finishing my breakfast and helping Mom and Froslass with the dishes, I head outside to enjoy the fresh country air. Unova is too industrialized, too many cities and towns, and not enough scenery, so I really enjoy myself out here in the woods, seeing as pretty much all the pokemon in them are extremely docile. Anyway, I'm walking through the woods occasionally coming across a wild deerling, or on the rare occasion, sawsbuck, When I hear something. I pause and listen, and when the sound comes again, I head in that direction. When I get to the source of the noise, my eyes widen. Flying around the area are two braviary, which are an extremely rare sight this far south. It's what was on the ground making that noise however, that had my true attention. Lying in the clearing, clearly trying to fight back the two birds, was a Cyndaquil, a pokemon that was practically unheard of in the Unova region. Heck, the only reason most of my siblings have exotic pokemon is because they connected to them while we were visiting our grandparents in the Hoenn region. Now the Cyndaquil was obviously getting it's butt kicked six ways to sunday, and had some very nasty gashes running along it's back. I couldn't get help, seeing as their was no guarantee it could arrive in time, and I couldn't just leave it there. So, being the headstrong idiot that I sometimes am, I dashed into the clearing, nabbed the fire mouse, and started running for home, two royally pissed off braviary in hot pursuit. I duck as one of them makes a pass at me, and the sound of tearing cloth fills the air. That was my favorite shirt dammit. Five minutes and just as many close calls later, I reach the family's property.

"John! A little assistance here!" I scream at my brother. He turns in my direction, and his eyes widen when he sees the predicament I'm in. He calls out his Salamence, and the dragon chases off the braviary, who do _not _want to tussle with the behemoth of a dragon that is Erebus. Seriously, that Salamence has to be twice as big as any other of it's species.

"What the hell did you do?" John asked me, and I tell him about my little adventure in the forest. The two of us run inside the house and bust out the emergency kit. Seeing as the nearest pokemon center is in Nuvema town, our family has to know how to properly heal their pokemon. Two potions and a roll of bandages later, the Cyndaquil is out of the woods, figuratively speaking. Now to change my shirt and...

"Tyler, what happened to your shirt!" Damn it.

"Sorry mom, I was out in the woods and I bumped into some trouble." I reply. Then comes the verbal tirade of how I should have brought one of the family's pokemon with me, and how I should have been more careful. After five minutes of chewing me out, I tell her what happened in the forest. I leave the recovering Cyndaquil with her while I get a new shirt, but on the way I pass by Arianne, who immediately starts telling everyone that I had gotten into trouble with a wild pokemon. Storming into my room, I change into a new shirt and inspect the damage done to my old one. Three large gashes in the fabric stare back at me. Yup, this shirt is completely ruined. When I get back downstairs the rest of the family wants to know what happened, so I spend the next five minutes reiterating the story, and I'm getting quite tired of it. Once I'm finished, everyone's huddling around the cyndaquil, trying to pick it up, but every time someone tries, the cyndaquil gets away from them. Eventually, the fire mouse pokemon gets away from the throng and runs right up to me, up me, and into my arms, where it huddles to keep itself safe from the large group of people. I don't know what I felt at the time, but the only thing my mind was focused on was how 'right' it felt to have this cyndaquil in my arms. Soon though, the group is back, all wanting to hold the pokemon, or at least see it up close. Cyndaquil huddles closer to me, the fire ports on it's back flickering, showing that it's very frightened.

"Oi, back away everyone, it's just a cyndaquil. It's not like I'm holding a legendary right now. Now shoo, you guys are scaring the poor thing." I say to get the crowd to leave, and although John and Reuben leave, the younger kids still clamor around me. Finally, Cyndaquil has enough, and hits them with an attack I recognize as Extrasensory, causing them to fly back. Anna and Hyrum run off crying, though I don't blame them seeing as Anna hit the kitchen counter edge head first, and Hyrum hit his head on the kitchen table. Sophie and Arianne leave quietly, and the two of us are alone at last. I bring the fire mouse pokemon to my room, where I set it down on the bed.

"There, they won't bother you in here." I say to it, and it rubs against my hand affectionately. Now that all the excitement had died down, I noticed that this cyndaquil looked different than the pictures I had seen of them. The fur on it's back was not the regular blue, but a bright burgundy. So this cyndaquil was one of those uniquely colored pokemon I had heard about. From what John told me, finding one was harder than winning the lottery. As I gently stroke the cyndaquil, listening to it trill in contentment, I find myself quite amazed. Here was a pokemon that was barely ever seen in the Unova region, sitting right on my bed. Soon, I turn to leave, and to my surprise, the cyndaquil follows. Pretty soon the two of us are nestled in the shade of the pine grove that our driveway loops around. I was reading a book, and Cyndaquil was curled up in my lap Soon it was dinner time, and the two of us made our way inside and sat down for dinner.

…...

Three days went by and I was shocked. Cyndaquil was completely healed, but adamantly refused to leave, which could only mean one thing.

"Well it's about damn time you got one." John told me, and I roll my eyes, then turn my attention back to the fire mouse pokemon.

"So you really want to come with me huh?" I asked it, and got a nod and a 'Quil' in response. "All right then, wait right here." With that I head into my room and root around in my backpack. Finally, I find what I'm looking for, and I return to Cyndaquil.

"Okay, I'm going to capture you, so that way no one else will." Cyndaquil nodded in understanding, and I expand the ball and tap the fire mouse with it. The ball then opens, and in a beam of crimson light, Cyndaquil is deconstructed into energy and sucked inside. The ball shakes once then falls still with a ping, signifying a successful capture with minimal struggle. John is staring at the ball in amazement.

"Wait, you got a cherish ball? How the heck did you get one of those, they aren't available for purchase anywhere." I grin at that.

"Oh this? It was a present from my manager back at the Accumula PokeMart on my nineteenth birthday. Never had a use for it 'til now."

"So, you gonna leave for a journey now?" my brother asked me. Now that I had a pokemon, I was officially able to go on a journey. The only thing that was really holding me back was my age. I mean, who the hell starts their journey at age twenty? I tell this to John, and he just dismisses it with a wave of his hand.

"Psh, is that all? Don't worry about it, I'm sure professor Juniper would understand. Besides, there's no maximum age limit for starting a journey, and by regional law you're only four years older then all the other rookies. I say go for it." So I agree, and decide to go, thus starting the grand story that is my adventure through the Unova region.

…...

Now to clear any confusion, I don't actually live with my family. I moved out when I turned eighteen. Well, I don't think 'moved out' is the correct term. When I turned eighteen in May, my dad told me I had a month to find myself a house, and a job, because come June I was out the door. Next month, true to his word, he packed my bags for me, opened the door, bade me farewell and not to be a stranger, then sent me out into the world on my lonesome. I live in a small apartment in Accumula, and work in the pokemon center at the Trainer Mart. When I got home I packed everything that I would need, and went to the Mart to get what I didn't have. My fellow employees were extremely happy that I had finally gotten around to getting myself a pokemon and had thrown a party for me. Soon I had gotten what I needed, managed to get a buddy to come clean my apartment while I was traveling, and I set off to Nuvema to get myself registered for the Unova league. The walk took about two hours, and soon the small town of Nuvema came into view. Once I entered the lab I saw two freshly starting trainers looking over their choices for a starter.

"I'll take the tepig, it's pretty cute, unlike that Oshawott." said the girl.

"I'll take Snivy, that Oshawott looks pretty weak" said the boy. I just shake my head. Since I work at the PokeMart in Accumula, I constantly hear trainers convere to each other while shopping, and one commonly recurring theme is Oshawott. Everyone always seems to poke fun at it, and few trainers take it. Soon the trainers were handed their pokedexes and five pokeballs each, and they both headed out, passing me by without a glance. I walk up to the table where Oshawott sat, looking extremely close to tears.

"Hey there." I say, getting it's attention. "So no one picked you huh, that's a shame." Oshawott just looked at me curiously, and I place my hand on it's head in a comforting gesture.

"Don't worry, someday, someone will pick you, and they will make you strong enough to beat both those trainers on your own. Just be patient." Oshawott looked up at me, and when I stared into those hope filled eyes, something in me just clicked, and Oshawott smiled. Then the door to the professor's office opened up, and in stepped the professor.

"Hello, welcome to... Oh, hello Tyler." Juniper's voice snaps me out of my trance.

"Oh uh, hello Juniper. I'm uh in need of a Pokedex, I'm registering for the Unova league." I say, still slightly out of it. Juniper's eyes widen.

"So you finally connected with a pokemon huh, about time."

"That's what John said."

"By the way, how is John doing?" asks Juniper, and smirk. Unbeknownst to the rest of my family, john's been dating Juniper for a few months now, even though she's about three years my senior.

"He's doing great. He should be free today, so you might be able to squeeze a date out of him."

"I'll keep that in mind." she said, and pulled a Pokedex from the box she kept them in. "Here you are Tyler, your very own Pokedex, and five pokeballs, though knowing you, it'll probably be years before you've used them all." My eye starts to twitch when I hear that. Thanking the professor, I start to leave, but I take another look at Oshawott, who has gone back to looking forlorn. I know what I felt, but I don't know if I can take him with me. Oh heck there's no harm in asking, and my brother's her boyfriend, surely that gives me some privelages.

"Hey, Juniper." I call.

"Hm, what is it Tyler?" I take a glance at the water type on the table.

"That Oshawott. It looks like this isn't the first time it's been rejected. I know I already have a starter, but do you think I could..." Juniper looks at me, then Oshawott, who had taken an interest in the conversation, then back to me.

"You connected with him, didn't you." I nod.

"Yeah, but he's for a trainer who hasn't gotten a pokemon of their own. I don't want to rob someone of the chance to become a trainer." I reply, and Juniper smiles. She then takes a pokeball out of her lab coat, and hands it to me.

"Here's Oshawott's pokeball, take good care of him. Those were the only two trainers that will be coming this month, so you're not taking away anybody's chances. Now get out there, you're late enough as it is." I grin, and pick Oshawott up, and together we head back to Accumula.

…...

The trip back home is uneventful, and we soon reach my apartment. Entering the place, I set my bag down and start cooking the last meal I'll be eating at home for a long while. While I'm cooking I let Oshawott and Cyndaquil out to stretch and talk. Soon dinner is done, and I set my plate on the table, and put two bowls of pokechow down in front of my pokemon. After dinner is finished, I wash the dishes, and clean the place up. Then, I turn on the TV for some relaxation. After flipping through a couple of channels, I come across a Bleach episode, and being the nerdy fan of the series that I am, I start cheering Ichigo on as he takes on Grimmjow in Los Noches. After the episode is finished, I turn the TV off, and get ready for bed, when a thought strikes me.

"Hey you two, come here please." Soon Oshawott and Cyndaquil are standing in front of me, wondering what I want.

"I was thinking, since you're now my pokemon, you two are going to need names that will tell the world you two are mine. So first I'll scan you two to find out your genders. It just wouldn't do if I gave you a boy's name and find out soon after you're a girl." After retrieving my Pokedex, I turn it on, and activate the pokemon scanner which will tell me the pokemon's ability, type, known moves, and most importantly, gender. I scan Cyndaquil first.

"Hm, so you're female huh. What the... hey, your ability is flash fire, that's pretty cool. Known moves are tackle, leer, extrasensory, and flame burst. That's a very good moveset. Now for Oshawott." I then turn the pokedex over to the sea otter pokemon. "Hm, ok so you're male. Ability is torrent, which is a standard for your species. Known moves are tackle, tail whip, what the... air slash, and night slash? Damn Oshawott, those to idiots from before really missed the diamond didn't they? Oh well, my gain their loss." Oshawott smiles at me, happy that he now has someone who appreciates him instead of belittling him.

"All right now for your names. Lets start with Cyndaquil. What would be a good name?" I think up several, but none appeal to me. Then I get one.

"How about Firestorm?" I ask her, and she nods while excitedly saying her name. I smile, then turn my attention to Oshawott. "Now for you." I say, and try to think up a unique name for such a unique Oshawott. Oshawott however seems to get an idea before I do, and tries to get it across to me. After several failed charade attempts, he points to the TV.

"You want to be named TV?" Oshawott facepalms in exasperation, then he spies a piece of paper and a pen. At first he tries drawing what he wants to be named, but it's too crude for me to make out. He then tries spelling it, and although the letters are warped and crude, I can make a few out.

"Z..p..t.., wait a minute, Zanpakutou? I mean sure I like Bleach, and apparently you do too, but you want to be named that?" Oshawott nods, no hesitation present.

"Okay then, if that's what you want. Your name is now Zanpakutou." Oshawott starts jumping for joy, saying bits of his species name in delight. I smile, then notice the time on my stove clock.

"Okay you two, we got a big day ahead of us tomorrow so I want us to get to bed early so that we'll wake up ready to go bright and early tomorrow morning." Firestorm and Zanpakutou nodded, and I recalled them into their pokeballs. Then I got into bed myself and soon fell asleep.

…...

Morning came rather quickly, but that was the whole point of an early bedtime. Getting up, I remake my bed, get dressed, check to see if I packed everything, and give the place a final once over. Grabbing my hoodie from the hook on the door, I put it on, then grab my pack, and head out. After locking up behind me, I leave the building and head out for Route 2, and from there, Striaton city. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a pokeball beans me in the side of my head.

"Oh sorry about that man," says a familiar voice, "I thought you were a Scrafty, what with the hood and all. My bad." My eye starts twitching.

"And hello to you too Nick." I reply, turning to face my grinning best friend. Nicholas, though he has everyone call him Nick for short, is about my height, with messy blonde hair, and light blue eyes. He wears glasses, a blue and white striped T-shit, blue denim jeans, and black shoes. Then he notices the pokeballs clipped to my belt.

"No way. You finally got a pokemon? 'Bout damn time." he says.

"Correction, I got _two_ pokemon." I reply, and the look on his face is priceless.

"Well I'll be the son of a Skuntank. Wasn't expecting that, with your whole family's 'connection' thing you go on about. Seriously, you see a pokemon, you catch it, simple as that, yet you make it so complicated. So what did you get?" I decide to tease him.

"You'll see, eventually."

"Oh come on man, that isn't fair." He tries to get me to spill, but I just smile knowingly. Finally he gives up.

"So what are you doing here? Going to get your own starter?" Nick perks up at this.

"Nah, I already got my starter a while ago, just got my pokedex yesterday so I thought I'd swing by your place and show off." I roll my eyes. Typical Nick.

"So what are you starting out with?" I ask, and Nick just grins.

"Nuh uh uuuh, that would be telling." he says with a grin.

"Touche"

"So Scrafty boy, you heading for Striaton?" He asks, and I scowl, and scowl hard. I hate it when people make fun of me over my constantly wearing a hood. Hyrum and Dad call me the emperor, John and Reuben call me Gangsta', but Nick takes the cake.

"I told you to stop calling me that." I growl out angrily. Nick's grin just gets wider.

"No can do friend. You gotta ditch the hood first." At this point I'm just too angry to argue.

"Fine!" I yell, "You want me to lose the hood, here then." And I yank the hood off my head. Nick's face then goes from grinning to outright shock. That worries me, was there something wrong with my hair or something?

"Sweet Arceus, he's human! Ladies and gentlemen, call the media, get ripleys on the phone, Scrafty boy's human!"

_'Must not kill him. Must not kill him.' _I chant in my head, trying to calm myself down and failing miserably.

"In all seriousness though. You heading for Striaton bud?" he asks, and I nod, grateful that he's being somewhat serious. Then he grins again.

"In that case, I'll go with you. You could use the company, you're too serious most of the time." I sigh, knowing I'll never get rid of him if we're going the same way anyways.

"Fine, but no trying to irritate me the entire way there."

"Awww, but what else can I do for fun while we're just walking and doing nothing?"

"We train. I need to get my two pokemon shaped up for the gym leader battle. By the way, what does the gym leader use? You're from Striaton, or at least live close enough to it, so you should know."

"That depends, who's your starter?"

""Nick, be serious here."

"I am being serious here, who's your starter? The gym leader, or should I say leaders, use the type advantage against your starter. You have grass, they use fire. You have water, they use grass." I raise my eyebrows at this information.

"Huh, I've never heard of a gym doing that before. I thought they all specialized in a single type of pokemon." Nick nodded.

"Yeah, what they do is pretty unique. So training to pass the time? Good idea, and we can also beat on some noobs for pocket change."

"Aren't we noobs as well?" I ask, but Nick just waves me off.

"Bah, you know me Tyler, I am invincible, and you..., well, I don't know. But I do know you have _something _going for you." I smirk, yup, that's just like Nick.

"Okay, well the day's getting on and I want to be at Striaton by lunch, so let's go." I say, pulling my hood over my head once more.

"Right behind you Scrafty boy."

"I told you to stop calling me that!"

…...

**A/n Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand Done! Man this was fun to write. Okay people, I decided to do my own challenge seeing as nobody else was. I got to say it's pretty fun to put yourself in a fanfiction. So yeah, that's my family in a nutshell, sans the pokemon of course. So what do you all think? Like it, Love it, Hate it? R&R please. Oh, and if you didn't know already, Final Piece of my Heart has been updated.**


	2. Author Note: Please Read!

Attention all readers due to various circumstances i am unable to post any updates for the time being. but dont fret story updates are still being written just due to computer issues and other various things i wont go into at the moment i cannot post them. so please be patient as hopefully i will have something up in the near future. when the new chapters are posted they will overwrite these notes. thank you for your continued support! and i hope to see you all soon.


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